Nick...I adored Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. I had a crush on Peter Cook, in fact.
DonMike...Thank you, darling.
I can't claim anything special. It comes rather automatically to me. I remember once getting off a bus with a black woman, who had been on the receiving end of a blatantly racist moment by the bus driver, who turned to me wide-eyed once we were off and said "do you even believe that just happened???" (No, frankly. I had trouble with it and I sat and watched the whole thing.) I realized at that moment that the obsessively pale skinned me must give off some kind of a vibe. I also have a very expressive face, and sat there through the whole thing with my jaw dropped, no doubt. Her immediate assumption that I wasn't a racist looms as one of the better compliments I've ever gotten, though. I glowed for a while.
Those were rough times in Louisville. People - in the loosest sense of the word - would actually stand on corners with signs that said "Honk of you're against busing." Now, one had a decision to make at those moments. Does one honk and violate one's ethics or does one glare at the assholes and risk a brick through the windshield. (That actually happened, and more than once.) I glared and hoped I could duck in time should the worst happen, which thankfully, it never did. I'm certain that if the worst had happened, I would have panicked, lost control of my car, and mowed the fuckers down.